Is Roomba’s throne at risk? AGAiT Technology E-Cleaner EC01

There were many contenders who wanted to take iRobot’s throne of small cleaning robots. We wrote about Panasonic’s attempt to introduce floor scrubbing robots, but they aimed to a different part of the market. Nowadays, there is a growing number of rivals pretending on iRobot’s most popular vacuuming robot Roomba. In this article and a couple of our future articles we’re going to write about them in our “Is Roomba’s throne at risk?” mini-series.

ASUS subsidiary AGAiT Technology is the latest to have a bash at realizing the dream of robots performing domestic tasks with the EC01 E-Cleaner robotic vacuum cleaner. As well as offering similar cleaning functionality to that of its rivals, the EC01 also benefits from a sanitizing UV lamp which disinfects as the unit vacuums.

The E-Cleaner travels around a dirty room in up to five pre-programmed cleaning patterns at between 16.5 and 18.5cm per second and providing said room is of 4.8m x 3.2m proportions, it is claimed that it will complete its task in some 30 minutes. The capacity of its dust bin is 0.3 liters. As the unit vacuums up the dust and dirt, an extra level of cleanliness is afforded by the onboard sanitizing UV lamp (which is claimed to last for 6000 hours of use). It also has a photo sensor which keeps EC01 from falling down the stairs. If its wheels get stuck it stops automatically and makes warning beeping.

The 14.4V Ni-MH rechargeable battery will recharge in three hours which will provide enough power for 90 minutes of cleaning. When the unit detects that its charge is low, or when it has finished its chores, it will automatically return to the charging station. It needs only three hours of quick battery charging to be fully charged. If it doesn’t finish its task, the EC01 resumes cleaning once its battery recharge is completed.

One of the features that attract potential buyers on AGaiT’s side is the additional remote control used to control their vacuuming robot. The effective distance from which you can control the EC01 is 3m. To lessen the chance of misplacement, AGAiT has included a slot in the upper cover where you can store the remote control. It also has a built-in slot where you can add pleasant fragrances or fragrance for odors removal.

According to Taiwan Economic News, the E-Cleaner will be made available shortly to households in China and Taiwan for a competitive price to recognizable Roomba.